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- Retirement activity: Russians are twice as likely to sell their homes due to mortgage debts
Retirement activity: Russians are twice as likely to sell their homes due to mortgage debts
The need to close mortgage debts forces Russians to sell apartments more often, Izvestia found out. At the end of 2025, the number of such cases jumped by half. The reasons are increased payments, loan delinquencies, and loss of income. Experts point out that this is an extreme measure to preserve a credit history and avoid bankruptcy. Some people prefer to give up their apartment, but pay off the bank. What support measures are available to mortgage borrowers can be found in the Izvestia article.
Why do Russians lose their apartments to close their mortgages
The volume of prematurely repaid mortgages due to the sale of housing by the borrower at the end of 2025 doubled compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the Central Bank data, which was studied by Izvestia. In just a year, loans worth 1.3 billion rubles were closed in this way — a third of this amount (425 million) fell at the end of 2025.
At the same time, in the fourth quarter of 2025, the volume of mortgages repaid with compensation reached 757 million rubles, although previously such figures were minimal. We are talking about cases when a loan is closed by transferring collateral to a bank. As a result, the total amount of loans that Russians managed to repay solely with the loss of housing amounted to almost 1.2 billion rubles. This significantly exceeds the figures for the same period in 2024.
The Central Bank confirmed the increase in early repayment of mortgages by compensation, but noted that this is not a massive phenomenon. The regulator's press service stressed that the increase is related to the transactions of individual large borrowers. Russians mostly closed loans at their own expense — 1.36 trillion rubles were allocated for these purposes by the end of 2025.
Early repayment through the sale of an apartment may indirectly indicate difficulties in servicing the loan, said Dmitry Gritskevich, Head of Banking and Financial Market Analysis at PSB. The borrower can sell the house at the market price to pay off the debt.
In 2023, banks provided mortgages with minimal down payments to customers with high debt loads at market rates, said Valery Tumin, Director of Russian and CIS Markets at Pham Properties. It is this "wave" of loans that is now in arrears: according to the Central Bank, by the end of 2025, the volume of problem mortgage debt has doubled to 205 billion rubles.
— Selling an apartment in such circumstances is a rational way out for those who understand that there is nothing to wait for, and there is no point in increasing fines and ruining credit history, — Valery Tumin explained.
Most often, the sale of mortgaged housing for early mortgage closure is an extreme measure when the standard payment becomes unbearable and there are no other options, explained Ekaterina Stashkova, Mortgage product manager at Compare. This may be due to a drop in income due to layoffs, reduced bonuses, retirement from a high-paying industry, maternity leave, or illness of the breadwinner. Sometimes payments take up too much of the budget, and the risk of delay increases.
This can lead to foreclosure through the courts, which is lengthy and difficult, said Ilya Usynin, an arbitration administrator and expert on the protection of debtors' rights. Therefore, some borrowers choose to sell the apartment on their own and close the mortgage without waiting for a court case.
When do people sell an apartment to pay off a mortgage?
Sometimes the decision to sell is related to the unsuccessful purchase of housing. For example, such a desire may arise due to poor location, problems with infrastructure, transport, ecology or neighboring construction sites, Ekaterina Stashkova explained. However, the decision is also influenced by changes in the family.
The most vulnerable groups of customers are buyers with a minimum down payment (10-15%) and a high debt burden (PD 60-80%), explained in "Compare". Borrowers with unstable earnings are also vulnerable, Ekaterina Stashkova added. These include the self-employed, sole proprietors, freelancers, and workers in cyclical industries (construction, IT contracting, development, and small business in services), where it is easy to lose 30-50% of revenue per year.
Some of the sales may relate to investment apartments previously purchased under preferential programs, Dmitry Gritskevich from PSB added. Housing prices have risen, and borrowers are eager to lock in profits.
If the cost of an apartment has increased significantly, a person can close the debt and redistribute capital into other instruments, Ilya Usynin explained. If the mortgage was issued at a high rate, it is more profitable than paying it off and facing overpayment.
"When the term of a loan taken out on market terms is 15 years, the bank can receive two housing prices as interest for the entire service period, and if for 30 years — from five to seven," explained Evgenia Lazareva, project manager of the Popular Front for Borrowers' Rights.
The price per square meter is rising, but it does not cover the overpayment on the loan, she stressed. In such circumstances, borrowers prefer to repay the loan ahead of schedule and reduce the financial burden. It is more profitable for banks to agree to early repayment than to wait for delay, spend money on recovery and sale of property.
Nevertheless, real estate traditionally occupies a special place in the value system of Russians, so only a few are ready to give up the apartment and transfer it to the bank, said Mikhail Bryukhanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pervouralskbank JSC.
In order to save the mortgage with a decrease in income, the borrower has several options before selling the apartment, Ekaterina Stashkova explained. Among them are negotiations with the bank at an early stage, refinancing at a more favorable rate, as well as loan restructuring with an extension of the term and a reduction in the monthly payment upon confirmation of a drop in earnings.
In addition, Russia has a vacation mechanism for borrowers who find themselves in temporary financial difficulties. You can apply if the loan meets the established conditions — in particular, its amount does not exceed 15 million rubles. In this case, the client can suspend loan payments for up to six months without negative consequences.
If the borrower resolves the mortgage problem in a timely manner, he retains his credit history and avoids bankruptcy, and if the financial situation improves, he can apply for a new loan on more comfortable terms, according to Compare. The growth in sales of mortgage-backed housing with early repayment shows that banks and customers are increasingly moving to a more mature risk management strategy without defaulting on loans.
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